-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The man who says he was behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax claims he was in love with the Notre Dame linebacker , but the athlete knew nothing about the ruse .

`` He had no idea , '' said 22-year-old Ronaiah Tuiasosopo in the first segment of a two-part interview that aired Thursday on `` Dr. Phil . '' The second part is scheduled to air Friday . `` He did not know anything . ''

Asked if he was in love with Te'o , Tuiasosopo told host Phil McGraw :

`` I mean , yeah ... as twisted and confusing as it may be , yeah , I cared for this person . I did all that I could to help this person become a better person , even though I was n't getting nothing out of it . Of course , it 's very shameful and it 's very painful to even talk about . Even now , it 's hard to talk about . But , you know , the truth of it is that that happened . I grew feelings . I grew emotions that , sooner or later , I could n't control any more . ''

Asked whether he is gay , he said , `` I would say , yeah , I am gay , but honestly , I am so confused , I 'm so lost . ''

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In the interview , Tuiasosopo said the relationship began after he started a Facebook page under the name Lennay Kekua , the first name an elision of his mother 's and grandmother 's first names and the last name one he had heard `` thrown around in the neighborhood . ''

He said he `` randomly added different people '' as Facebook friends with the persona he had created . `` One of the people I happened to add was his cousin , '' he said , referring to Te'o 's cousin . `` Shortly after , I got a friend request , and it was from Manti . ''

Tuiasosopo said he found out , as Lennay , that the gridiron star was in a relationship . `` I never wanted to become a relationship wrecker or nothing like that , '' he said .

But that did not stop him ; the relationship grew . They began speaking nightly , and Te'o seemed to have been smitten , too , Tuiasosopo said . `` He really had fallen in love with this , we 'll say , character . ''

Tuiasosopo said he and his younger sister met Manti in November , the night before Notre Dame 's 22-13 victory over rival USC at the team 's hotel .

`` It was really awkward at first , '' he said . `` I wanted to tell him everything right then and there . '' But Te'o 's relatives intruded , and he decided it was n't the right time , he said .

Tuiasosopo said his motives were pure ; he never tried to make money off their relationship . `` I just wanted to help him become better , '' he said .

The charade became difficult to maintain , and he tried to end it several times .

`` There are many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up . But something would bring them back together , whether it was something going on in his life or Lennay 's life , in this case in my life , '' Tuiasosopo said .

He added : `` I wanted to end it because after everything I had gone through I wanted to move on with my life . Me , Ronaiah , I had to just start living and let this go . ''

Finally , after learning that Te'o had Skyped with four women -- including two of his former girlfriends -- Tuiasosopo said he essentially killed off Lennay , having her die of leukemia .

`` I was just trying to do everything to end it because I knew that , no matter what , you know , it just was n't right -- and it was never going to be . ''

A love story unravels

Thursday 's segment is the latest revelation in what began as a story of one of the nation 's best college football players leading his team to victory hours after learning his girlfriend had died , a story dismissed as a hoax after it was revealed Kekua did not exist .

Te'o : My emotions were real

Sports website Deadspin broke the story this month that the girlfriend whom Te'o , this year 's Heisman Trophy runner-up , had talked about and had claimed died in September was n't real .

Te'o rose to national prominence while leading Notre Dame 's Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season . As he and his team excelled , Te'o told interviewers in September and October that his grandmother and girlfriend , whom he described as a 22-year-old Stanford University student , had died within hours of each other .

`` I miss 'em , but I know that I 'll see them again one day , '' he said then .

An online relationship

Last week , Te'o told talk show host Katie Couric that Tuiasosopo had called him the day the story broke to confess .

During that interview , Te'o said he doubted the voice he knew as Kekua was a man 's voice .

Tuiasosopo has said he faked his voice to sound feminine . In the interview , McGraw questioned his veracity and repeatedly challenged him to prove it .

McGraw said his show had contacted private contractors for the FBI and the Secret Service , giving them a voice mail message that Tuiasosopo said he had left for Te'o . `` They looked at everything from voice intonation to tonal qualities '' and concluded that `` the chance that you are the person on that voice mail is like one in 10 million , '' McGraw said .

Tuiasosopo insisted he was telling the truth but said he would be uncomfortable talking in his feminine voice for the TV host . `` I 've never done it in front of people , '' he said .

Who 's who on the Internet ? Who knows

Tuiasosopo ' s state of mind

Psychotherapist Robi Ludwig said the behavior described by Tuiasosopo to McGraw is very possible .

`` We see this with Internet dating . Sometimes people lie , '' Ludwig told CNN 's Erin Burnett OutFront .

`` It 's a place where they can experiment and where they can impersonate the other sex . ''

Ludwig said it is possible that Tuiasosopo `` actually did have a crush on Manti Te'o and was confused about his sexuality . ''

`` And the reason why he impersonated this woman was to see what it would feel like to be intimate with Manti Te'o , to be loved by Manti Te'o , '' she said .

`` Who would say this if it were n't true ? I do n't get the sense that he 's a sociopath . I get the sense that he 's confused . ''

` Catfishing ' masks identities online

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NEW : `` It was never going to be , '' Tuiasosopo says of relationship with Manti Te'o

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Tuiasosopo sat down for a two-part interview that began Thursday on `` The Dr. Phil Show ''

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In the interview , Tuiasosopo says he wanted to end the relationship